07 Feb Children’s Hospital Campus Wash
Here at Glide Rite Power Washing, we recently completed a massive power washing project for a local children’s hospital and medical center. While we can’t use names, this children’s hospital was built about ten years ago and had never been thoroughly cleaned prior to us. To give you an idea of the enormity of this project, we washed the entire exterior (including the roof) of all three of the large stone buildings on this hospital’s campus. The entire project took us fourteen days to complete and a lot of planning.
First, we had to coordinate with employees and security regarding when and where we were going to clean first. As a hospital with a busy emergency room, this did pose some challenges for us (as you know, emergency rooms don’t close). While we were cleaning the building with the emergency room, we had to be ready to move our trucks and team out of the way for any ambulances or cars driving up to the entrance. This gave us a new kind of experience and forced us to be on the lookout for anyone who needed the hospital’s services. We also had to be mindful of anyone coming out of the emergency room (which was harder to foresee).
Another area that is critical to the operation of this hospital is their helipad. While we were working on the rooftop with the helipad, we had to be aware and mindful of any incoming helicopters bringing intensive care patients. Luckily, this area of the building was smaller than the entrance to the emergency room, so we didn’t have to be on our toes for quite as long.
Logistically, there were several moving parts to this project. On top of coordinating with employees and security, we had to plan and map out our plan to completely clean the entire campus as well as the three stone buildings. This part of our service takes careful planning as we do our best to minimize disruption. However, working with a hospital means always having to be prepared to mobilize and get out of the way since they don’t shut down.
We also had to ensure that we were safe with our team and the environment. Working on tall buildings, like hospitals, that require us to use a sixty-foot lift to power wash means that we need to make sure our team is always using safety precautions. We are professionals at Glide Rite and always put safety first when working with dangerous equipment.
We strive to protect our environment by our standards and EPA standards. We have to look at the layout of the landscape and where storm drains are to ensure that we are being as minimally invasive with our cleaning chemicals and runoff. We use environmentally-safe and biodegradable chemicals and degreasers on all our projects.
Another safety issue we had to be on the lookout for (which is true for any of our projects) is weather. Down here in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, we have to use precaution when it comes to weather and safety. We can experience tornadoes in our area, which are rare. We also can experience sudden and massive rainfall, which can make working on a rooftop or lift dangerous.
We were lucky and proud to have worked on this project. Being able to coordinate with the team at the hospital, their security, watch the weather, and execute a strategy to clean this massive campus made for a new experience here at Glide Rite. Since the buildings were ten-years-old and had never been cleaned before, it was a perfect opportunity for Glide Rite to make this campus shine like new. Before, they had black streaks of mold/mildew running down the sides of the stone.
Power washing is a business of strategic planning, thoughtful care, knowledge, and safety. We were able to show all our best qualities on this job. If you need your commercial building to look brand new, look no further and give us a call.